The Higurashi Secret
by lovediva100
Summary: After the well closes Kagome finds out that she is living with her aunt. When she and her brother move in with her mother she has to find a way to survive the harshness of neglectful parenting. Finally she reaches out to her grandparents only to find out that her father is really alive. When she goes to live with them she finds out that all of the youkai are hiding in her family.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Kagome sighed as her mother yelled at her to hurry up and make her something to eat. It wasn't an easy task considering there was no food in the house. She made a mental note to go shopping tonight. Then she realized she would need to bring Souta so he could pick out some things for breakfast and lunch. Mentally calculating how much money it would take she held back a groan. She would have no money left by the end of the week. Plus she didn't get paid until next week.

Shaking her head she knew she would have to confront her mother on the money she was keeping from her father's family. She wasn't stupid, her mother would get money to take care of them and spend it on her alcohol. Maybe it was time for her to send a letter to her distant grandparents to bring a little light to the situation. Then hopefully she could convince them that they didn't need to bring in the authorities and just send her the money instead.

It hasn't been easy for the once time traveling miko. Not long after the well stopped working her grandfather died. And at his funeral a lot of things came to light. Ever since she was six and Souta was one her aunt has been taking care of her. Apparently that was what her grandpa wanted because he figured that his other daughter would be too devastated from her husband's death to take care of them. Now that they were older several aunts and uncles decided that they should go back with their real mother. None of them kept in mind that they had been kept from this secret. Some even had the audacity to scold Kagome for not asking to go back sooner. When she snapped back that she was living with her real mother they looked at her like she was crazy until her mom-wait no-until Fumake stepped in and yelled at them how she wasn't supposed to ever know. Souta started crying and her real mother Fumiko came up.

Nothing stayed the same eventually Kagome and Souta moved in with Fumiko. Then Kagome found out that she was an alcoholic and everything went down from there. She had to get a job so Souta, Fumiko, and she could keep their apartment and eat. Kagome had asked for money to pay the bills before but the response she got was how until they came everything had been fine. She found the letters her grandfather sent to her and the responses her mother forged. To say she was sick of her new life was an understatement. She didn't even have time to think about the feudal era. For now her only concern was Souta. She was turning 17 in 3 months and then she would have another year before she could legally take care of Souta on her own.

It was times like this that she would daydream of what her life would be like if her father was still alive. She was glad that she did have memories of him and they were all happy. If only her brother could have those memories to. Then maybe it wouldn't be so bad when their mom hit them and cussed them out. She could tell it was effecting him no matter how hard she tried to keep him sheltered from her. Slowly she shook her head and missed the happy days when they still lived with Fumake and her grandfather was alive and the well was working. Even before the well. She missed all of those carefree times and would trade in just about anything to get them back. But for now she just had to try to make things better even if it was only a little. So she need to decide if she would write to her other grandfather tonight. But before any of that she needed to go get some food so her mother would stop yelling at her to hurt up and bring her some.

"Souta come with me we need to go to the store."

When she got back from the store she heard her mother's door open. Wincing she quickly hid her brother so he wouldn't have to deal with her drunken wrath. As she turned to go back to the groceries she only saw her mother's hand as it came down on her cheek.

"You stupid b*%$&! Where were you? I told you to make me something to eat an hour ago. You think you can just ignore me, and go anywhere you want whenever you want! Not in my house. I pay the bills, I put food on the table and I raised you. You better learn some respect!"

With a glare Kagome sucked in a breath. "Ok first of all I had to go to the store if anyone here wanted to eat tonight, since instead of using the money my grandparents give you for Souta and me, you go and waste it on your precious alcohol. Second I don't need your permission to do anything. As long as I'm the one really taking care of my brother and myself, I don't need to listen to you because I could go to the police right now and have you locked up. I just haven't because I don't like to deal with messy situations, don't think that means I won't."

"And lastly you don't do any one of the things you just listed. All you do is sit in your room all day drinking and sleeping. I'm the one paying the bills and you haven't given me any money for that. I'm the one who goes and makes sure there is food in this house to go on the floor since we don't even have a table. And I am the one who is raising myself, and before that was Fumake so don't even kid yourself. You didn't even take care of me when I was little and my dad was still alive. So I think its you who has the problem with respect." She snarled out bitterly.

With a wild screech her mother lunged at her and started attacking.

A half hour later she went to go get her brother from hiding. At least her mother hadn't found him and beat him. With a deep aching sigh she wiped away his tears. "Its ok Souta she went back to her room, she won't hurt you. Come on and help me with dinner." He slowly nodded and followed her, nervously looking her over and seeing all of her wounds from the most recent fight. There was a couple of scratches on her arms and some bruises. The worst was the small gash on her cheek, right above the still healing burn from 3 days ago.

He knew his mother was insecure of her looks and purposely did whatever she could to make her daughter look bad. The guilt racked him as he knew he did nothing to stop her or help his sister. It just wasn't in his nature to hurt someone intentionally unless he had no choice what-so-ever. But he's twelve years old, so he needs to learn how to suck it up and do whatever he can to help his sister.

The pair stayed quiet as they made miso soup and Shabu-shabu**.** Shabu-shabu is tender, thin slices of beef held with chopsticks and swished around in a pot of boiling water, then dipped in sauce before being eaten. Miso soup is a soup consisting of a stock called "dashi" into which softened miso paste is mixed. It was actually a very nice dinner considering it was from Kagome's small salary.

As they sat together on the floor Kagome decided that she would make her decision in getting their grandparents involved if Souta wanted her to. "Koishii (beloved) tell me the truth. Are you miserable?" "No sister I am fine I only worry about you. She does not mess with me that much, I just wish that it was me she would hurt instead of you." "Ai (love) don't worry about me. I just want to make sure that you have the best life possible right now. Is there anything you would like for me to do?" "Le (no) I am happy that if I had to have this life I got such an amazing sister with me."

"Ai, what would you say if I could possibly get more money to help our life style." "Don't I don't want you working another job. It's bad enough you work so much now while you're still going to school. I don't need anything that I don't already have" "I am not talking about just what you need but what you want as well." "I want for you to quit your job. I want the money our mother has to take care of us to actually take care of us. I don't want you to have to take care of me like I'm your child and your some teen mom without any outside help."

Kagome stared at him in amazement. "Souta, do you want me to ask our grandparents for help. To at the very least send me the money instead of her. If I do then I won't have to work a job and I'll be home more. She won't be able to drink as much because her money that pays for them is going to be gone. However I can't do anything about treating you like my child. It's my job as your big sister to make sure you get taken care of. No matter what."

"Then when I turn 18 I'll move out. And I'm am going to fight the courts for you and expose her for what she is. I can't do that now because I'm not legally an adult and who knows where they will have us go. Plus there would be no guarantee that they would keep us together."

"This could make life a little better for us. Or it could just complicate things. It can go either way so tell me what you want to do Ai. You're the man of the house so you make the big decisions. I'll just help you out when you need it."

"Are you sure that our grandparents would believe this and send the money to you?" "No."

"Will the money going to us will make her drink less?" "I don't know."

"Will she be more violent without the alcohol?" "Probably."

"Do you know for sure the court will believe you?" "No."

"Do you think they will let me live with you." "I don't know for sure Ai."

"How will you get our grandparents to even know of the situation?" "I'm going to write a letter."

"What if they decide to turn her in and take us?" "I don't know."

"Will it be better?" "Probably if they are willing to go out of their way to take us from her."

"Will you be happy?" "I will if you are."

"Will we stay together no matter what?" "I will do anything in my power to make sure that we are not separated from each other."

"What would you write to our grandparents?" "I would ask to meet them in person and tell them to their face what has been going on. That way they know I'm not lying and I will know if they truly care."

"Would you take me with you to this meeting?" "Of course."

"Should I go get a paper and a pen?" "If you truly want me to do this."

"Aye, I will be right back then. Do you want a textbook to write on?" "Hai."


	2. Chapter 2

**_Stranger Danger_**

Kagome rubbed her eyes tiredly. After staying up late with her brother trying to compose the letter to their grandparents, she had to go to work at the club. She dropped the letter off and got an energy drink before her shift started.

Her boss was convinced that if one person was having the time of their life then others would want to join. So every night Tuesday through Saturday at 11:00 pm to 4:00am she was having the best night ever. It was very draining. Then she would get ready for school and nap until 6:45 am.

Now at 11:18 am she finished her rock-star and was gonna have to drink the second Starbucks coffee drink at lunch. If her health class wasn't so interesting she would have been dreaming 45 minutes ago.

When she goes home she'll have to pack a suitcase for her and Souta and stay over Eri's house this weekend.

At least then she wouldn't have to worry about trying to sleep and a hour later waking up to the house full of gas. That was a long night. And her mother blamed her.

The stove wouldn't have been touched if Kagome had woken her ass up and made her chocolate chip cookies in the first place. At 2:00am.

For some reason her mother thinks if she walks down stairs she'll have pelvic bleeding or something equally tragic. After school she'll pick up Souta, pack their things, drop him off, and head to work. Along the way she needs to pick up a large energy drink and this time probably some hot coffee.

It will be nice when the day comes that she doesn't waste her spending money on drinks to keep her self awake. Hopefully this thing she's planning with her grandparents works. Otherwise she was screwed

…...

"Ai I'll be back by dinner. Just hang out with Ermery till later . Gotta go make that paycheck." He looked down smiling lightly when I teased him.

It's disturbing that such young kid can look so serious all the time. Even Shippo wasn't always serious and he was most likely 4 times her brother's age.

Sighing I got up and ran to the bus stop. After spending 15 minutes getting oogled at on one side and not looking at the man constantly picking his nose we reached the cafe. Getting off I got ready to deal with rude customers, gropers, pms-ing bosses and lazy flirting coworkers that are really big assholes. Just another day

...

"Look I don't know how many times I need to tell you this but I'm not going to date you. Seriously I've even met your girlfriend. Or rather girlfriends. By the way Mira said it's over. She met Ezra the other day when you were 'sick'. Ezra didn't say she was dumping you but I have a good reason to believe she's gonna kick your ass as soon as she sees you. Have fun."

Flouncing out with my tray on my hand I left him sputtering some kind of nonsense about how I should have covered for him and made something up. Rolling my eyes I slapped a smile on my face and went to give a group of elderly people their food.

Old people are so sweet.

At least I thought so until I felt a hand reach under my ridiculously short skirt and try to squeeze my butt. Rather then react violently like I use to I simply smiled harder and stepped out of his reach. Then once I was done I flew away ignoring said man's protests.

Later when they left I saw him stop to talk to the manager first. Finally my shift ended and it was time to close up the cafe. But not of course before she gives us our daily performance. "Kagome, I thought you were doing so well until a sweet old man came up and told me you ignored him the whole time they were here. You know that customer satisfaction is what makes your paycheck. That's a mark off for this week."

Huffing naturally I protested even though I knew that I would never win.

"I didn't ignore him. It wasn't until I delivered their food and felt him feeling me up that I avoided getting close to him. He was in the wrong. Was I just suppose to sit there and let him touch me inappropriately? Then go back so he could do it some more."

She shot me a knowing look.

"Kagome if he wanted to grope you then your suppose to let him. What good is it to have good food if the customer doesn't leave here with something making them want to come back?"

"Why else would we go out of our way to have our employees so good looking? Or our uniforms so sexy. Our customers like us because we have amazing looking staff and we allow them to do whatever they want. Mr. Hinye opened this cafe for that specific reason. I know your still in the new employee phase but you need to get over it and accept it. In reality your the only one with the problem."

"We even have a underground service where if the customer requests someone and pays enough they can spend a night with them. Of course we don't get into details so all they pay for is a date but if they pay the individual more then whatever else they do is their business. No big deal. Your not even on the market yet since it hasn't been a full 6 months. So don't complain about some wandering hands."

My eyes were wide. That has got to be one of the worst things I have ever heard. I expected something like that from the club. But this is a high class restaurant. Working here is a big deal. Now I know why.

Leaving with my head down I debated on whether to find a different job or not. No this job pays extremely well, I'm just lucky I'm not 'on the board' yet I guess.

…...

Ok its official. Someone is stalking me. They're very good at covering their tracks and blending in. However I haven't shaken this feeling since the well closed.

For awhile after we moved in with Fumiko it wasn't there but recently they found me again. Now as much as I would like to believe that youkai are living in the present, I've never sensed one so its impossible.

Her revoir broke when she walked right into a woman. Snapping my head up I quickly bowed in apology. "Gomen'nasai I was not paying attention to where I was going."

Noticing she dropped her bag I reached down for it. She looked like a very important woman. And I just tried to run her over, great. As I handed her stuff to her I realized the whole time she had been staring at me like I was a ghost.

Tilting my head a little I stared back.

"Do, do I know you? You seem very familiar to me. Like I've met you before. Could it be that you come this way often? Or maybe we met before. A long time ago."

She just looked at me. Then suddenly another pedestrian bumped into me. When I looked up again she was gone.

**A/N:** I am so sorry for waiting this long to update. I started 3 stories at once and I'm trying to get each one off the ground. I promise that this story will be my main focus for now. Also it was hard trying to finish this chapter because I didn't want to rush her meeting her grandparents. But there is no doubt that she'll be meeting with them next chapter. Thanks to everyone who followed, favorited. and reviewed on the first chapter. This got a much better response then I expected from 1 chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

_** The Letter**_

Swerving by the house to check the mail and get some things to leave over Eri's I went through the bills. While I was going through them I went to get some water and saw Souta still had some of that Ice juice I got him.

That's weird I could have sworn that was weeks ago. I would assume he just wanted to keep the bottle since it was nice ,but it was still practically full. Maybe he just didn't like it. If that's the case I'll drink it. Pouring it over some ice I restarted on the bill pile.

Hmm, I already put the water money in the oatmeal box so my mother wouldn't find it. The money for the lights is where the candles are, in my own version of irony. Oh great the big one, rent.

Wait what's this under it. _**Curho Higurashi. **_Wow, after last week passed I forgot I sent the letter.

Uneasily I decided to wait to open the letter. Getting up and stuffing it in my bag, the world started tilting.

Whoa, why am I on the ground and I cant seem to get back up. Oh no. I should have known that wasn't juice. Stupid. Quickly stumbling into the bathroom I splashed water on my face while I used my miko ki to burn off the alcohol and whatever drugs she probably had in there.

Pausing I heard movement, crap she's awake. Grabbing my bag I went to my room and grabbed somethings out of the dresser to take to Eri's. Then quietly I slipped out and ran out the house.

"KAGOME! If that's your sorry ass then you better be making dinner!" Yeah right. You can learn to fend for yourself considering your 30 something. I was down the street before she could say another word.

Dear Kagome,

I'm glad to hear from you. It has been quite some time since you have written us. It pleases me to hear that Souta and you would like to go to lunch with your grandmother and I. Your schedule sounds quite busy so whenever you have time to sare we shall be ready for you. Your grandmother and I were anxious to hear what you needed to talk to us about. Whenever you are ready we shall go and please allow me to treat you to it.

With much love,

Grandfather Higurashi

The letter was clenched in my hands. Here it is, all ready and waiting. Now I just need to choose a date and a place. Well we can go to the cafe. They'll automatically put the employee discount on the bill before we even see it.

Now the best time to do it will probably be on my day off that way I can get some sleep before hand, and I won't go from working there to eating there or eating to working there. Wait I'm doing over time this week. It will have to wait until next week when I get my next day off.

Alright looks like were getting closer to a better life style. That is if they cooperate with my plan.


End file.
